The Effect of an Informational Newsletter on Control Participation Rates: A Randomized Study

Abstract

We employed a randomized study of 344 subjects to determine whether an initial contact letter accompanied by an informational newsletter increased participation in a population-based case-control study. The results indicated that there was no benefit in including a newsletter with a letter of introduction. There may have been a slight detrimental effect, since those who received the newsletter were less likely to consent to an in-person interview (82%) than those who did not (88%)